Just A Child
by Unknown lazy ass
Summary: Baldychan! Tell Kenchan me 'n' Midgetchan are off to make babies, okay?


**Just a Child**

**Summary:**"Baldy-chan! Tell Ken-chan me 'n' Midget-chan are off to make babies, okay?"

**Disclaimer: **I don't own bleach or any of the characters involved with this awesome anime/mange either unfortunately.

Hitsugaya sighed as once again he watched the retreating form of his annoying fukutaichou as he mentioned her about the large stack of paperwork needing to be done.

The boy prodigy rubbed his throbbing temples as he to a sip of his green tea, he wasn't sure why Yamamoto-sama had in the first place partnered her with him, it seemed like he was babysitting. He remembered well of what the older man had said as he received his captain's vest.

The old fart had stated that Matsumoto would be loyal and good for him, but the geyser hadn't mention the occasional-if not constant sake party and anti-paperwork lifestyle.

He had even bothered to bring it up on the last captain's meetings a couple weeks ago; it had been a big mistake. For one Shunsui-Taichou had stated he couldn't trade fukutaichou' because the man didn't want his lovely Nanao-chan to suffer. Then Kenpachi just frowned before looking away, and the rest shut their mouths for once. It had been a very awkward situation.

Shaking his head in self pity, the boy turned his attention back to not only his but Matsumoto's as well sacks of paperwork.

_"Icy-Butt!"_

The unmistakable high-pitched girl's voice floated tauntingly across the still and warm air, ringing with friendly greetings. The voice belonged to none other than Yachiru, 11th squad's not-so-intimidating vice-captain.

She was perched lightly by a sliding door left open so that air could circulate; her dark eyes alight with laughter and an impish grin spread wide across her features. Her hands were clasped firmly together, as if they held within them some secret. No doubt whatever it was she was holding was the source of her grin.

"What'cha doin'?" she asked, stepping in without bothering to receive an invitation. Seeing the paper stacks, she made a face "Eeew. Boring! Glad I don't get a lot of it. Froo Froo does it for me anyways..."

No doubt she was speaking of one of the hapless members of her squad whom she had bullied into submission. Giggling, she stepped in closer, the impish grin widening. "Guess what...?"

Hitsugaya's turquoise eyes slightly widened in surprise, though his mask of boredom over took his features once more before shaking his head in frustration. The white-haired Shinigami did definitely not need the extra company, after all the only person that could ever stand the perky midget fukutaichou for more than a second was the one and only, Zaraki Kenpachi. They made a strange yet somewhat suitable pair.

Softly scowling at the pink haired girl he stated "Kusajishi-fukutaichou may I remind you that my name is Hitsugaya-Taichou to you, your silly nicknames are not proper for one with such status as mine."

He had made sure to ignore the younger Shinigami's question. Shifting in his chair the boy prodigy continued filling out the paperwork that lay in front of him, before his mind started to drift off. One of the great seven wonders of soul society had been answered; who the hell did all the paper works in the Eleventh squad? After all Kenpachi-Taichou couldn't possibly do them and Yachiru was no exception. Even the great Hitsugaya the Tensai had been silently pondering about the subject. He cursed his fukutaichou for it; she had always made a big fuss when it came to rumours and questions.

Not letting Hitsugaya's usual cranky nature interfere with her disgustingly perky one, she stuck out her tongue. "Fine then. Midget-chan it is!"

She knew that he'd hate this nickname-- after all, what was more annoying than being called 'short' by someone shorter than you were? Hitsugaya was already touchy enough about his height, and being insulted by a girl a good four or five inches shorter was a sure blow on his pride.

_Pshaw! He was too cranky anyways. Like an old man! And that was no fun._ She thought crossly Hmm. Come to think of it, there weren't a terribly large amount of fun people outside her squad. Hitsugaya would normally be the type she would ignore, but boredom had driven her out, and she had cheerfully decided to harass the Shinigami closest to her in terms of age... and that Shinigami just so happened to be Hitsugaya. Again, she took another step closer. He had ignored her question, but that sure as hell wasn't gonna stop her. She had spent all morning digging for these!

"Miiidget-chaaaaan--- guess what guess what guesswhatguesswhat?"

The tenth division captain couldn't believe his ears, was the girl blind or just plain stupid. Though the pet-name had indeed captured his attention, whether it had good or bad intentions wasn't difficult to tell.

With his left eye twitching ever so slightly he grumbled to himself as he took another sip of his green tea. Hitsugaya's once bored expression had morphed into an irritated look as he finished the last of his tea. To sooth his temper he thought of a million different ways of killing the younger Shinigami for calling him Midget-chan, she had no right!

_For one she was __**shorter **__than him and two he was a captain, and three did he mention she was __**SHORTER?**_

He didn't think there was any nickname worse than Shiro-chan but then comes, this little devil-spun girl and betroths him this ridiculous moniker Midget-chan. And here he thought he would never meet someone more annoying than Matsumoto.

Placing his pen down onto the large desk he wondered to himself why of all days, Yachiru had decided to tease him today. Knowing he could not defeat or chase the shorter Shinigami away without having to face server consequences from the eleventh division captain and members. Hitsugaya convinced himself to play her game, at least for now, in a somewhat monotone the boy asked "And what is it that you found ever so intriguing today fukutaichou?" If he wasn't the respected tenth captain he would have most certainly spat back a crude pet-name for the little girl.

_YES!_ _He had taken the bait on both fronts!_ Grinning, the pink-haired girl moved in, now so close that she could feel Hitsugaya's hot breaths brush her forehead. She batted her eyes innocently at him, trying to appear the part of a perfect innocent girl... emphasis on trying.

"Oh, just... THIS! BWAUGH!" And at that, she flung her arms up, stuffing a goodly collection of slimy worms down Hitsugaya's shirt. Screeching in delight she danced out of the boy's reach, clapping her small hands together.

"Yay yay yay! Wormy midget-chan!" She wouldn't have been surprised if he had yelled at her and thrown her out. After all, she had preformed the same trick on Ikkaku the day before, and the only thing that had stopped him from thrashing her was the fact that she had run off to giggle behind Ken-chan. Yet here she had no Kenpachi to hide behind. Was she really so bold as to just pull pranks on people she knew in such a manner? Well, yeah. She had just done it, after all.

Yet while Yachiru's mind seemed so predictable and straightforward, the girl sometimes let on that she was far more complex than she let the others see. Was this such a time? Perhaps. It was doubtful, but there was always a chance...

Hitsugaya's face turned slightly red as the younger girl's face leaned in, if anyone was to enter at that moment his pride, reputation and status would have been flushed down the toilet. Rumours would be flying across Gotei-13 for weeks, maybe even months, and a very enraged Kenpachi would be after his head. Before his mouth could form words, his world came, crumpling down.

The stupid runt had shoved worms down his black yukata, his already large eyes widened even more as anger and confusion flickered in his eyes. How could one so small cause such a big mess to occur? _Duh, this was Yachiru they were talking about. _This child was as bold and sinister as Aizen himself if not worse, jolting out of his chair.

The once respected captain started twisting and wiggling as much as the worms in his clothes, without thinking the boy started undressing. Flinging his vest aside and undoing the top of his uniform, Hitsugaya had managed to find every last one of the worms that one hyper fukutaichou had stuffed inside of him.

A small sigh of relief escaped his lips as he got rid of the last worm, though as soon as that was out of his way his icy eyes darted to Yachiru before he could do anything that he was planning on doing the door flung open.

As the open banged out, there stood no other than a very irritated Ikkaku. The bald eleventh squad member's jaw literally hit the floor once he spotted a half naked Hitsugaya and giggling Yachiru. The third seated officer was lost for words, until he finally stuttered "H-H-Hitsugaya-T-T-Taichou?!"

The furious boy's face turned scarlet before he quickly dressed himself, then ordered in his usual firm voice "Ikkaku-san, I don't know why you are here but you should knock...always." His pride had been cut in half but he tried not to let it show.

The bald man blinked as he nodded, then stated "Hai! I was just looking for Yachiru."

Hitsugaya nodded sharply before stating "Well you've found her, but she can not leave at the moment, I need to have a word with her. You are now dismissed Ikkaku-san, but I must warn you, if you speak one word of this, your body will become a permit ice statue."

The officer nodded then rushed out of the room. The boy prodigy's face regaining some of it's original colour. He turned to face Yachiru before stated "Why the hell did you do that for?!" His voice was cold yet flared with rage yet demanding all the same.

_Oh my! Too funny! TOO FUNNY!_ Yachiru nearly collapse from the giggles, her tiny body heaving with laughter. Hee hee! Hitsugaya's reaction had been even better than Ikkaku's! The arrival of said baldy only caused the girl to laugh harder, tears brimming from the corners of her dark eyes. She couldn't even give Ikakku a wave and snap out an embarrassing comment. Finally, when she had calmed down, she straightened, casting Hitsugaya that _'oh I'm SO innocent!'_ smile.

"Why? It's because you're always in here, being grumpy and no fun. You're gonna grow old and wrinkly too fast! See?" she pointed an accusing finger at the boy's shock of white hair. "Yer already getting old-man hair! Then you're gonna be bald and have a big scary beard and everything! Do you really wanna grow so old so fast?" At first the tone of her voice had been the ever-playful lilt of one of her jokes. Yet as she continued, she sounded more and more serious, her smile fading.

Was she serious? She sure as hell seemed to be. Who even knew that Yachiru was capable of being so serious? Or perhaps this was another trick. Yet her eyes seemed too determined for one of her pranks. She and Hitsugaya were the two youngest of the Gotei 13 by far-- and if he really grew old as fast as she assumed, who would she play with? Crossing her arms, Yachiru drew herself up as tall as she could, small chin arrogantly raised upward. "You're a _kid_, Icy-butt. You should act like it once in a while. It'll keep you from becoming old and wrinkly, and who knows? You may have fun."

By the description Yachiru had placed on his future appearance, it reminded him of the ever so powerful fire Shinigami, Yamamoto-sama, which would have been a compliment if she wasn't referring to the geyser's looks.

His frown deepened into a scowl as he continued on listening. Who was this short-coming runt to tell him, the tenth division captain, how to act or behave? It seemed absurd and completely improper, still judging by her serious tone, he actually believed her, well at least for a moment until he remembered her earlier prank. Yet her eyes, there was not one mischievous glint or even a trance of insincerity in them.

Sighing to himself the boy ran a hand through his snow-white hair. He would never admit it out loud but he had always disliked his hair colour, for Kami's sake it was white like a grandpa's. Though bed-wetter Momo had commented once that it suited him very well, since he was born at December, the season of winter when it snowed the most. Still she had never stopped calling him Shiro-chan even when he had obtained the rank Taichou and Bankai form, she had merely brushed it off that it was out of a bad habit.

His turquoise eyes locked onto her ruby coloured ones before stating calmly "My hair colour is none of your concerns." Hitsugaya paused before adding "Besides it is a naturally born colour, as your hair colour is pink, which by my opinion is by-far worse." A smug smirk over took his rusty frown. The young fukutaichou had no idea when she stated he was too up-tight, after all the only person in all of soul society that knew just how immature he used to be was in too busy adoring her lovely captain. Nobody would've suspected that he was as bold and rude as Yachiru, if not worse; also his watermelon seed spiting habit was equal to the pinked-headed shinigami's pranks.

So perhaps the two weren't so different after all, but it was all behind him now. His childhood had been destroyed as soon as he had received the pale captain's vest, maybe if he hadn't tried his best he would have ended up being like Yachiru, but in reality there was no such things as _'ifs', 'maybes',_ or _'perhaps'_. Then the last sentence from Yachiru had caught him off guard. Ignoring the horrid nickname, his mind repeated the words _'You're a kid'_, over and over again. His smirk was whipped off his face as it became replaced by a firm line. After a small moment of silence, Hitsugaya cleared his throat before asking "And what is it that you have in mind as 'fun'."

Yachiru had been expecting Hitsugaya to yell, lecture her, or even shove her from his office, so it was only natural that his answer caught her off-guard. _Midget-__chan__ was interested in having fun? Oh my! What was this world coming to? Next thing you knew was that Ken-__chan__ was actually going to finally begin answering her persistent questions about how babies were made._

Still, she managed to recover herself quickly, a bright grin flashing across her face. "That's easy! There's plenty of fun stuff around. Come on!" She grabbed the taller boy's hand, dragging him towards the exit and sliding the door open to reveal Ikkaku. Yachiru waved cheerily as she skirted around him. "Baldy-chan! Tell Ken-chan me 'n' Midget-chan are off to make babies, okay?"

His eyes widened slightly once they came across Ikkaku but when the eleventh fukutaichou had stated they were going out to make babies, his face immediately turned scarlet from embarrassment. This one was definitely going to be spread to Matsumoto and then she would ask the dreaded question. Though he would be far too busy dealing with an enraged, Kenpachi.

As they walked away from the officer, he could already feel the Shinigami's eyes bore into the back his head. Seeing Ikkaku's beet-red face and piss-poor attempt at forming a response to her comment, the pink-haired girl let out a giggle and hurried on. She didn't know how babies were made, but mentioning it was funny! It must be terribly embarrassing at making babies, for even Kenpachi got fidgety at the subject. As a result, it was fast-becoming routine for Yachiru to casually mention baby-making around her squad just to see their reactions. It was funny!

Leading him a good distance from the squad buildings, Yachiru suddenly stopped, whirling to face him. "Hey," she said, letting go of his hand. "What did you used to do for fun before you got all serious and grumpy? It had to be something"

The white-haired taichou was about to say something to the pink haired girl but as soon as he had opened his mouth, his brain froze up, not wanting to make a bigger fool of himself, he awkwardly closed his mouth. Then silently allowed Yachiru to continue on pulling him along to where ever they were heading. Though he couldn't stop himself from wondering, if Yachiru kidding when she said they were out to make babies or maybe she didn't know how the process went? Whatever the reason was, no ways in hell was he going to explain. Not that he knew much more than anyone else his age, but having Matsumoto around him did give him some unwanted advantages when it came to that kind of subject.

Placing the thought away, he tried to regain his composure once Yachiru had whirled around to face him. When the pink haired girl had promptly let go of his hand, he retracted it to his side and let it swing as he cleared his throat. Then stated in his usual tone "I ate watermelons." He was telling the truth but he just made sure to take out the childish details.

"Watermelons?" _How was that fun?_ Only fun way to eat it was with the rest of her squad, when they were all goofing off and tossing rinds and spitting seeds at one another. THAT was fun. Somehow she just couldn't see Hitsugaya doing anything. She could only see him picking at it delicately, like he was some damn princess. Still... they could always steal one. That would be fun; she supposed... especially if they got chased! Smiling, she nodded perkily.

"Okay! Let's go out to town and try 'n' steal one. They taste better that way." She gave a firm nod as if she were the absolute authority on the matter, though to be honest she'd never even done such a thing. She was just showing off. Honestly, sometimes one had to wonder why the hell she hadn't been born a boy from her attitude... or if 11th squad had too much of an influence on her personality. "We hafta steal it from a field," she went on. "Not at a market. Too many people around and they'll chase us. It'd be fun, but I know you'd get all grumpy about it. Hm... Maybe if we disguise ourselves?"

He wasn't sure what was wrong with him today. Maybe it had been the day itself screwing around with him by letting the little pink-headed, devil trot around his office, either way. The way her voice twisted with excitement, he just felt as if he backed out of this, he would be backing out of a challenge. And Hitsugaya was no way in hells gonna lose to some kid that thought she was the queen of the world. He had to save some face here. In an almost sly voice he stopped himself from lecturing, instead suggested "I know a place, follow me."

For the second time in her life, Yachiru was shocked by Hitsugaya's reaction, but nevertheless followed. Yachiru grinned once her eyes spotted the watermelon patch. Out of excitement she started to approach the field faster, Hitsugaya let out a small grunt of protest. It seemed that common sense was finally sinking in, but it was too late now. Yachiru had somehow managed to snatch the large fruit and was now running towards Hitsugaya. Stalking behind the little prankster was a farmer; he was holding a rack and racing to catch up to the thief.

Normally he would've stopped her and handled the situation wisely but he didn't do anything along those lines. He merely blinked as she zoomed past him; the farmer was catching up to where he was. For another second he stood there gawking at the sight and debating, finally he snapped out of it once Yachiru challenged "Midget-Chan having trouble keeping up with me?"

As soon as her word settled, he busted with rage and energy. No way was he, the captain of the tenth division going to lose to this short child. Gritting his teeth he bolted after her.

He could still hear the angry man's voice clearly but it wasn't long before it became faint until it faded to complete silence. Once he knew they were safe he kneeled down and tried to catch his breath. Yachiru suddenly busted out laughing even as she fell to the ground.

Hitsugaya huffed and crossed his arms "That was very careless of you, what would've you done if you had gotten caught?" His reasoning went to deaf ears, and as his eyes wandered off to her. He couldn't help be laugh along slightly. Maybe it hadn't been all that bad, not bad at all...

Turquoise met with ruby, and their laugh subsided. Yachiru grinned before teasing in a rather snotty-matter "Looks like I'm faster." Her voice rings with unmistakable glee and it takes all of Hitsugaya's willpower to restrain himself from looking for a stick and beat her into a bloody pulp. She notice the look of irritation in his eyes but she doesn't care, instead she giggles some more.

"You still have a temper of a child's." She gives him a sweet smile before adding "I'm glad."

_He wasn't sure what was wrong with him today. Maybe it had been the day itself screwing around with him by letting the little pink headed devil trot around his office, either way he smiled right back._ "Me too."

**Author's Note:**

Well I'm still not too sure about the ending; I think that was the only part that was really killing me. Everything else was actually fun to write! Well I hope you guys enjoyed it!!!

And I may be considering for a sequel, suggest some nifty ideas and who knows.


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